West predicts BRIСS demise, experts disagree

MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. The Western media paints the prospects of the BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in dark colors, predicting its hard days and inevitable demise but Russian experts say these predictions have nothing to do with reality. They say that a deliberately planned information campaign is underway.

Some Western media sources say the upcoming crisis will inevitably put an end to the association of the world’s five most rapidly developing economies. Thus, the UK newspaper, The Independent, reported recently that capital outflow from the BRICS group had reached $1 trillion in the past 13 months. The author of the article said this suggested that BRICS was doomed.

The US Investor’s Business Daily believes that BRICS has not lived up to the expectations as it has failed to become the engine of global economic development. India is the only country in the BRICS grouping, which is in a good economic condition, it said.

However, it is absurd to make conclusions about the BRICS’ death on the grounds that China’s growth has slowed down: it has been observed to accelerate and decelerate several times since the early 1980s, Professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrey Volodin said.

"The crisis manifestations in the world economy, the consequences of which are felt in Russia, China and Brazil, will, on the contrary, facilitate the development of regional cooperation because old financial institutions have already become obsolete," the expert said.

The BRICS countries remain a promising grouping, although risky for investments, Free Press web portal cited Head of the Finances and Economy Sector at the Institute of Modern Development Nikita Maslennikov as saying.

"Structural transformations are taking place in the economies of these countries. Recent developments, including among the BRICS countries, are a general global trend," he said.

About $940 billion worth of capital quit the emerging markets from July 2014 to July 2015, the expert said.

"But it is not quite right to say that only the BRICS countries have lost a trillion US dollars. The Asian region and Latin America are also losing money," he said.

Professor of the Higher School of Economics Marina Larionova said she "completely disagrees" with the statements about the BRICS’ dark prospects. Crisis manifestations in some BRICS countries and the recession in others won’t compel them to give up the consolidation of their efforts, she told TASS.

"This can be evidenced by closer cooperation, including the Strategy of BRICS Economic Partnership adopted recently at the Ufa summit, and also the closer bilateral relations," the expert said.

"When the G20 emerged, everyone spoke about the imminent death of the G8. However, this did not happen," she said.

"The institutes have their significance and continue operating. Likewise, BRICS also has its significance, even if someone may not like it," the expert said.

"As for capital outflow, this is exactly one of the reasons explaining the desire of this grouping of countries to unite and safeguard their interests in the global economy," Professor of the Russian Presidential Academy of the National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) Valery Abramov told TASS.

For the purpose of strengthening their national currencies, the BRICS countries have established such financial institutions as the BRICS Bank, which is perceived as an alternative to the existing international financial organizations, the expert said.

"Developed countries do not like the attempt of these countries with major emerging markets to conduct their coordinated and agreed policy. Hence information campaigns against BRICS: all this is a reflection of financial wars and global competition," the expert said.

"This is not a bloc, this is an agenda. Consequently, its existence consists in filling the agenda with ever new specific projects,’ the expert said.

The information campaign against BRICS was not launched accidentally, Savchenko said.

"That is why, the Ufa summit signed documents on cooperation in information policy and culture aimed at disrupting the Western information monopoly. BRICS has strengthened its agenda and influence potential very powerfully," the expert said.